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Какие требования предъявляют к квалификации юриста в современном обществе? Прочитайте и переведите текст.

The Profession of Lawyers

The word «lawyer» describes a person who practices law, who has become officially qualified to act in certain legal matters because of examinations he has taken and professional experience he has gained. Most countries have different groups of lawyers who each take a particular kind of examination in order to qualify to do par­ticular jobs. In Japan, a lawyer must decide whether he wants to take examination to become an attorney, a public prosecutor or a judge.

A distinctive feature of the legal profession in England is that it is divided into two groups: barristers and solicitors. Barristers are lawyers who specialize in arguing cases in front of a judge and have an exclusive right to be heard, the right of audience¹, in all law courts in England, even in the highest courts. They are not paid di­rectly by clients, but are employed by solicitors. Judges are usually chosen from the most senior barristers, and once appointed they cannot continue to practice as barristers. Solicitors are lawyers who do much of the initial preparation for cases. They prepare legal documents (e.g. wills, sale of land or buildings), advise clients on legal matters, and speak on their behalf² in lower courts. In other words, a barrister spends most of his time either in a courtroom or preparing his arguments for the court and a solicitor spends most of his time in an office giving advice to clients and making investiga­tions. Many people in England believe the distinction between bar­risters and solicitors should be eliminated, as it has already happened in Australia.

In both the United States and other industrialized countries, lawyers are becoming more and more specialized. Working in small firms, lawyers now tend to restrict themselves to certain kinds of work and lawyers working in large law firms or employed in the law departments of a large commercial enterprise work on highly spe­cific areas of law.

How to enter the profession of lawyers? Lawyers are subject to standardized examination and other controls to regulate their com-

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petence. In some countries in order to practice as a lawyer it is nec­essary to obtain a university degree in law. However, in others, a degree may be insufficient; professional examinations must be passed. In Britain, the main requirement is to have passed the Bar Final examination (for barristers) or the Law Society Final exami­nation (for solicitors). Someone with a university degree in a sub­ject other than law needs first to take a preparatory course. Someone without a degree at all may also prepare for the final ex­amination, but this will take several years. In most countries, law­yers would say that the time they spent studying for their law finals was one of the worst period of their life. This is because an enor­mous number of procedural rules covering a wide area of law must be memorized. In Japan, where there are relatively few lawyers, the examinations are supposed to be particularly hard: less than 5 per­cent of candidates pass.

A solicitor in England must then spend two years as an articled clerk³, during which time his work is closely supervised by an ex­perienced solicitor, and then he must take further courses. A bar­rister spends a similar year serving as a pupil under an experienced barrister.

In most countries, once a lawyer is fully qualified he receives a certificate proving his right to sell his service. There are also insur­ance provisions so that if a lawyer is ever successfully sued by a cli­ent for professional incompetence, there will be funds available to enable him to pay damages. Even if a lawyer is very competent, he must take care not to break the many rules of procedure and ethics set by the body which regulates his profession. In England, the body regulating the conduct of solicitors is the Law Society. There is also a Solicitor's Disciplinary Tribunal with the power to suspend or even disqualify a solicitor.

In most legal systems, conversations between a lawyer and his client are privileged: the client should know that what he says will not be passed on to someone else without his permission. In theory, it could pose difficult ethical problems for a lawyer. For instance, what should he do in a criminal case if he believes his client guilty? In any case, it is the prosecution's job to prove guilt, not the de­fence's to prove innocence. A lawyer could therefore defend his cli­ent simply by trying to point out weaknesses in the prosecution case.

Notes to the Text

the right of audience — право выступать в суде

on their behalf — от их имени

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3. articled clerk — служащий конторы солиситора, выпол­няющий свою работу в порядке платы за обучение профессии солиситора

Упражнение 1. Составьте словосочетания глаголов из колонки А и суще­ствительных из колонки В.

А В

enter a. advice

prepare/ prepare for b. a degree in law

become с time

gain d. a problem

give e. examinations

argue f. a job

pose g. on one's behalf

speak h. a profession

get/ obtain i. guilt/ innocence

prove j. a case

take/ pass k. experience

do 1. arguments, documents/ the final exam

spend m. a lawyer

Упражнение 2. Назовите 5 словосочетаний со словами law и legal.

Упражнение 3. Заполните пропуски.

1. ... is a general term for a member of the legal profession, e.g. a judge, barrister, solicitor, law teacher, etc. 2. The common pur­pose of a barrister and a solicitor is to provide professional service and advice on legal... 3. Barrister is a lawyer who can speak and ... a case in one of the higher courts. 4. Attorneys are persons who are legally allowed to act on ... of someone else. 5. Solicitors may now have a right of... in certain courts. 6. At present a solicitor may choose any ... to advise his client or to appear for the client in court. 7. ... is a clerk who has passed the examination to become a solicitor but has to work in a solicitor's office for some years to learn the law. 8.... means protected by privilege, e.g. a letter from a client to his lawyer. 9. Jurors are members of a ... 10. Jurist is an ex­pert in ... 11. Jurisprudence is science and philosophy of human ...

Упражнение 4. Заполните пропуски следующими словами: legal, legally, legalize, legalization.

1. To ... is to make something legal. 2. To sue means to take ... action against someone in a civil court. 3. The directors of large commercial enterprises are ... responsible. 4. The ... of labour rela­tions is reflected in the law of employment.

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Упражнение 5. Заполните пропуски синонимами или словами, близкими по значению.

higher in authority

remove

limit

need / require

hand / give to smb. else

show / direct attention to

some

discuss / debate

rule / order

not general

control systematically

think